Do you consider yourself a lucky person? Do you wish you were luckier?
Throughout history, people have recognised that good and bad luck can transform our lives. Luck can affect whether we meet our perfect partner, whether we find a fulfilling career, and whether we live happy and meaningful lives.
Do lucky people have something special?
After rigorously studying luck for more than 10 years, Professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire concluded that our thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of our luck. Essentially, all of us can be lucky!
Professor Wiseman conducted experiments involving hundreds of self-declared lucky and unlucky people. He used diary studies, personality questionnaires, intelligence tests, and laboratory experiments.
He found that lucky people generate their own luck via four principles:
1. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities.
2. Make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition
3. Create self-fulfilling prophecies via positive expectations
4. Adopt a resilient attitude that turns bad luck into good.
Whereas unlucky people:
1. Are more anxious and tense and therefore tend to miss opportunities
2. Miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on a specific goal
3. Are not open to new experiences because they stick to the same routine
4. See misfortune as incredibly unlucky and are not able to see the positive aspects of the situation.
Based on his research, Professor Wiseman created a ‘luck school’ where he coached participants in the principles of lucky people.
He explained the four principles of generating luck and described simple techniques to help participants think and behave like a lucky person. This included creating chance opportunities, networking, adopting a relaxed attitude to life, being open to new experiences, breaking daily routines, and more effectively dealing with bad luck by imagining how things could have been worse. Participants spent a month carrying out the exercises.
The results were dramatic. 80 per cent of participants felt they were now luckier, happier, and were more satisfied with their overall lives.
Luck is another great example of how our mindsets affect our lives.
Give it a go today. Change your routine. Attend an event you wouldn’t normally attend. Speak to people you wouldn’t usually speak to. When things go wrong, imagine how they could have been worse. Sign up to a blog newsletter (like mine! - sign up at the top of this page). You never know where it may lead you!
So, are you lucky? Or unlucky? Let me know your thoughts.
Comments
Thanks for your comment! Our minds affect our lives in so many ways!
Erin
I think you have noted some very interesting details , thanks for the post.